


Let me make you proud

by AmeliaAndreas3



Series: An Endless chain. [8]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: 92nd hunger games, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Gen, POV Alternating, POV First Person, The rebellion never happened, Trying my luck with first person pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 10:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22814845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmeliaAndreas3/pseuds/AmeliaAndreas3
Summary: Without any warning, and for reasons no adult wants to talk about, tensions in district 2 started rising: curfews, cuts in the training centre became more urgent, troubles with new peacekeepers..The Capitol says it's punishment, but for what?!All of that aside, Anastasia McMillan is determined to volunteer for the 92nd hunger games. After seeing her life turn upside down and not for the better, she's even more eager to kill, to win, and to restore her district's honor.This is a direct sequel to "Turning point" so I advise you to read that, but it's not that necessary
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: An Endless chain. [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1468564
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This POV system is inspired by TintinnabulousRunes 's because it's awesome.

**Anastasia McMillan**

**District 2**

**Female volunteer for the 92nd hunger games**

The peacekeepers usher us to stand in the lines for the checking for the reaping, I try to catch any familiar eyes, but Gwen is not among them. 

I _can't believe my girlfriend is gonna miss my big moment!_

To be honest, I haven't seen Gwen since she graduated from the peacekeepers academy. They just spreaded out in the district and I haven't seen her in two months. 

Everything is different since last year, and the worst part is that no one tells us what we did wrong! 

I fidget with my green dress, wrapping the fabric around my finger as Kikia waltzes onto the stage when the video ends. 

Kikia reaches for the bowl, her artificial blue hand glimmering under the sun. "Serephina Lucium" 

"I volunteer!" I call out. I remind myself to not run onstage, the cameras want a confident, cool and collected career. 

I reach the stage and shake Kikia's hand. "What's your name. Honey?" 

"Anastasia McMillan" 

"Let's hear it for Anastasia!" The people clap politely, from the last girls row, Ina starts a wave of chanting my name. 

Kikia presses her lips into a smirk then rushes over to the boys' bowl. "Will Steine-" "I volunteer!" My fellow tribute yells out before Kikia even finishes. 

_You're supposed to wait for her to finish, Jesse._ I roll my eyes at him as he mounts the stage to the sound of his friends hyping him up. "Didn't want him to think he's actually going in" Jesse tells Kikia. I locate Will at the 17 year olds line, a noticeable scowl on his face.

I pace around the goodbye room. Mom, dad and my brother Alex have already said goodbyes, wishing me luck. _Two is plagued with shame. I know my daughter can be the one to restore the pride to our district._ My mom said, when I asked her what does she mean by shame, she didn't reply.

Ina is still there. "I don't think she's coming, Anya" 

"She would've told me if she was stationed somewhere. Where can she be?" 

"I'm sure she's just working. Don't take it too personally, you will come back for her anyway" 

I stop pacing and collect my breath. _cool, collected, confident, the perfect career. you're stepping infront of cameras in two minutes._

I give Ina one last hug. "I wish I had some token to give you" 

"No need for that" 

Ina sighed. "Forget Gwen. You are the baddest bitch in the academy, you got this" 

The peacekeeper that I don't recognize says time is over. and I follow him outside to meet up with Jesse as we board the train. 

I'll admit, I always had a curious spot for the Capitol: I wanted to see the riches of it myself: the train car was nothing but silk coverings for the seats, chandeliers hangining above the table with five sets of crystal glasses and plates. Jesse can't help but low whistle at the sight of it all. 

"Marvelous, isn't it?" Kikia's face lit up. "I will now introduce you to your mentors: Gigi Hendricks and Jeremy Reese" the two latest victors Two has right now enter the car and shake our hands. 

"Huh, I thought Enobaria and Claude are still the mentors" I narrow my eyes at them. 

"They retired, Aria-Mae and Lyme are here to help us with sponsers" Gigi replies, albit harshly. 

_That's odd, what, did last year's failure hurted them that much?_

Two avoxes enter the car with trays of food: a whole chicken, mushed potatoes and some broth. "Why don't we chat up over dinner?" Kikia asks in her high pitched voice. 

I eat in silence and try to avoid meeting Gigi's gaze. 

"Skills. I wanna hear them. Since you two were the last tributes chosen not by us." Jeremy says. 

Jesse answers first. "Top marks in sword, mace and melee combat, bear hands" Jeremy nods. "You?" He raises an eyebrow towards me. 

"Short swords, I've got a good throwing arm but dual blades are my specialty" 

"Good. You basically complete eachother, we can work with that. You stay together after the pack splits, itll be an advantage" Gigi stands up. "Let's see what your opponents are like"

* * *

**Finnick Odair**

**District 4**

**Victor of the 65th hunger games, mentor to Maximilian Ferrel**

Being able to sit next to Annie freely, to hold hands with her infront of the cameras and see my ring on her finger, shining under the sun is the best feeling in the world.

Not being summoned to the Capitol the week before reaping day, or the month before it, or the month before that is the second best feeling. 

But I can't help but look at Achilles from across the table in the train car: his face is a blank mask. He's coming to be on sponser duty with Aidan, I can imagine pretty well what the two of them will have to do to get the needed sponsers. 

Atalanta sits on my left and plays with her food, another victor I pulled out- another young woman selling herself to the public. I feel sick looking at them, knowing they all basically cover for me now when I'm not doing rounds anymore. 

Our tributes, Vera and Maximilian (or Max, as he asked us to call him) are admiring the Capitol food with excitement that only makes Molina like them more and more. "I'm so glad tributes are excited and vocally express their opinion on our kitchen! It's just so refreshing to hear!" 

Achilles sneers quietly. "I only won last year, Molina, didn't I complement the food too?" 

Molina, suprised and excited that Achilles is talking to her, immediately apologizes. "Of course not Achilles darling, you are one of the best victors of the past decade" she purrs at him, and I can't help but wonder if she booked a special meeting with him in the past year. 

I turn on the TV just as Yelene Ackerman introduces the commenters on this year's reaping. Everyone is now silent as we watch the tributes for the 92nd hunger games go on stage:

The district 1 girl is pretty, but slim. "Probably an archer" I comment. Out of the corner of my sight, Achilles flinches. The boy is muscular and I freeze at the name. "Julian Richson" 

Atalanta's confused gaze meets mine. "Any children one of the Siblings had?" She asks and I laugh. Gloss and Cash would rather die than have children. "Not in a million years, a nephew or cousin perhaps?" 

District 2's girl is tall and lighter skinned, her arms are the more muscular parts of her body. "Face to face, maybe dual fighting" the boy is very eager to volunteer and the girl rolls her eyes at him- maybe they aren't in good relations with eachother?. 

District 3 is your standard reaped stock. 

Vera is confident in her walk to the stage: her red Southern Port curls sparkle in the lights and the reporters are impressed. Max looks calm enough, trying to look charming a little too much. The commentors immediately compare him to Achilles and I sigh. "Don't get too excited about it. It was obvious they will compare whoever came onstage to Achilles- you'll amaze them with your skills" I tell Max. 

No other tributes stand out, no twelve year olds in any of the districts: the youngest one is the 10 girl- 14 with a curly mess of carrot orange hair. 

Soon enough we reach district 12, the commenters are less good in hiding their boredom. The girl is black haired and blue eyed. Katniss once explained to me how Twelve works, the girl looks like a mix of both the poor and the merchant area. 

Something in her eyes tell me I should watch out for Bree Cartwright.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bree Cartwright**

**District 12's Female tribute for the 92nd hunger games**

The costumes for the opening ceremony are back to being ridiculous. 

Ten years ago, district 12 was assigned a new stylist after Cinna's "freakish accident" (everyone with half a brain in twelve know it's not really an accident) that left Twelve with an overenthusiastic bubbling stylist named Toto Perone, and Portia. 

Each year he tries to continue Cinna's work with lights, each year he failed miserably. 

This year is no different, I sigh as the prep team fix the lanterns on my black dress for the tenth time. At least Robin looks as bad as me. 

There's a miners hat as a headpiece that completes the outfit. Robin exists his room, Portia in tow. She looks as miserable as him- clearly Toto did most of the designing work this year. 

We are ushered down to where the chariots are waiting and stand quietly behind ours, not exchanging any words. 

"It's really sad how your district doesn't have good costumes anymore." The girl from Eleven says from her spot near the chariot. I tense, but the girl clearly didn't meant to insult or rub it in our faces: she pitied us. 

"It really is." I sigh. 

As our chariot rolls out I clench my jaw and try to smile, Katniss said people liked it when I looked dangerous in the cameras eyes back at the reaping, so I continue with staring down the crowd. 

My mother once said the fact I was born in a year Twelve brought a victor means I will be lucky. I still don't understand why- since she was unmarried and barely 18 when she had me, and if that wasn't enough, I will probably die within the next two weeks. 

_No; I won't die._ I promise myself. _I've got knowledge, I have a good throwing arm and I am clever enough to survive._

I get off the chariot and walk towards Katniss and Prim. "Let's go, I don't wanna stick around for too long" Katniss leads us to the elevators, we cramp in with the district 11 tributes, along with their mentors Kala and James. 

The girl I saw earlier introduces herself as Laurel, she's 15, a bit younger than Robin. As I recall the other tributes I realize I'm the oldest outliar tribute this year, the careers are the only ones close to my 18 years.

_At least I got that going on for me._

* * *

**Anastasia McMillan**

**District 2's female tribute for the 92nd hunger games**

I don't look at Gigi throughout breakfast, I eat in silence and follow Kikia as she leads us to the training center. 

We're the second pair to arrive, only Chanie and Julian from One are there. I like Chanie, but Julian strikes me as suspicious: after all, the Richson familly is known for bringing out victors: no doubt I'll see the twins around the Capitol. 

Slowly, other pairs join us, and we stand infront of Lojaine, the head trainer, as she explains the rules. "No acts of physical violence against other tributes- there's planty of time to do that in the arena. Good luck" 

I find myself racing Jesse to the Gauntlet. The famous obstacle course looked bigger and more challenging than what Jeremy described this morning, but we take our turns and try to out-record eachother until the bell calls for lunch. 

At lunch, Chanie, Julian and Max pull out the tables together so all of us can sit. "So.." Chanie opens. "What do you think your score will be?" 

"Won't be surprising if I get a 12, I'm a Jack-of-all-trades kinda guy." Jesse smirks.

"11, I'm not skilled in all weapons, but I am a master with dual swords." I say. 

Chanie thinks for a bit. "10. I'm not that cocky, and you all need to be a little more realistic" 

Jesse and I sneer. 

After dinner, Gigi corners me. "Look; I get that we started on the wrong note. But the thing is, there's nothing more I want rather than to get you or Jesse out; okay? You know as good as me how Two needs that right now. I'm gonna need you to trust me. Okay?" 

"Okay" I shake her hand. "You can buy me a drink on my victory party"

* * *

**Amethyst Wheeler**

**District 1**

**Victor of the 86th hunger games**

Julian and Chanie sit on the sofa and wait for the scores to be read. I stare at Gloss on the other end of it- he grips the Armset in a white-knuckled grip. 

Technically, he shouldn't even be here, he should be in One's victor village with his sister, but his cousin had the dumb idea to send her son to the academy, now his cousin-once-removed is a tribute; and Margot wants her victor cousin to be his mentor. 

Yelene Ackerman reads out the scores, she's more enthusiastic and even more charismatic than her predecessor, I dare to admit, but maybe it's because Caesar was nearing the end of his run when I was a tribute. 

"Chanie Gezelle, with a score of... 10!" 

Chanie smirks. "See? I told Anastasia and Jesse, just you wait" 

Yelene continues "Our legacy Julian Richson, with a score of.. 11!" 

"They gave you that high because you're a legacy" Chanie lashes at him. "No they didn't!" "Yes they did!" They smack eachother like four year olds until Gloss has enough: "You two, shut the hell up! We're not finished" 

They murmur an apology and go back to watching. Anastasia scores an 11, like she said she would, Jesse scores a 9, That sends Chanie and Julian back, laughing like two maniacs. "I can practically _hear_ him breaking something upstairs" said Chanie. 

"See? Cockiness brings you nowhere" I cross my arms. 

Vera and Max score an 8 and a 9 respectively, "she's the weak link, make sure she goes first" I tell them. 

Non of the other tributes so far score above a 6, the lowest score is a 3, courtesy of Tillie, the girl from 10. 

District 11's Laurel scores a 7, that's a bit worrying. Her district partner scores a 4. 

"From district 12, Bree Cartwright, with a score of 9!"

The room went silent for a few seconds, something crushed upstairs. Probably a very pissed off Jesse.

The outliar girl is as old as Julian, and scored as high as two of the pack members and above one. 

"I think we have another Katniss Everdeen on our hands" I mutter. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bree is Delly's daughter, who got pregnant after Katniss' games. 
> 
> Also, Chanie's name is pronounced Sha- nee. It means scarlet or crimson in Hebrew.


	3. Chapter 3

**Bree Cartwright**

**District 12 Female tribute**

I hate speaking in public. 

In Twelve, I used to stick to the walls. Being invisible helped deal with the negativity from both merchents and Seam people alike. 

So I would probably make a fool of myself on live television. 

"I can't really help you with that, Haymitch told me I have the charisma of a dead snail when he prepared me" said Katniss. I can see her face shifting a little and I know she's thinking about Peeta. 

As the girl from One plays sickly sweet with Yelene, I accidently catch the gaze of the boy from Two, the one who scored a 9. His scowl turns into a murderous smirk, he's probably thinking about what he'd do to me tomorrow. 

_He's in for a surprise then._

I don't cower back, so we enter a staring competition non of us wants to back off from. Onstage, Julian Richson is almost done and the boy's district partner tears him away from my gaze and hisses ssomething. Probably along the lines of _She's not worth it_

In the girl's interview- her name is Anastasia, apparently- she talks about honor, and something she says catch my ear: "the last year was difficult for Two in general, a lot of people suffered, I wanna- no, I _Will_ win to boast up the morale." 

I don't know what she counts as "trouble" but I'm interested. 

Two boy- Jesse? I have to learn his name now that he's so eager to kill me- makes the people laugh, and when Yelene asks him about his score, he waves it off and says it was excitment getting in his way; and that the audience will see what he can _Really_ do in the arena. 

He also mentions he's a good singer. Of course, that sends the people begging for him to sing something. He happily obliges, and what do you know- he has a really good voice. The audiance loves him. 

The rest of the interviews either go as a blur or a drag- usually the latter. Laurel gave a nice interview that made the crowd laugh, her district partner was a shy shell. But Yelene stood bravely in the challenge, and almost seemed relieved when she called me onstage. 

She started with the usual things: complimenting my outfit, asking about the Capitol, as soon as Yelene sees the poor reactions to that she changes the subject to the matter everyone wanted to hear about:

"So Bree, I get a new; threatening aura from you I haven't seen- as a watcher- in your district's tributes in a long time. And that score! Care to tell us how you did it?" 

I think for a moment, "practice makes perfect. The wonders three days can do to a person that can beat a ten year practice" 

I didn't mean to sound like a bitch; but the look on the district 1, 2 and 4 mentors was totally worth it. I can see Katniss in the second row, her lips curl into a thin line and she's clearly trying to hide a smirk. The audiance loved that. 

I don't have to look to see the careers losing it. The three minute mark is over and I sit as Robin gives his interview, not the best closing one, if you ask me. 

As soon as the cameras are down Julian and Anastasia pull their very pissed off district partners away with promises to kill me first in the bloodbath. Vera and Max from 4 are just appalled by my nerve, but say nothing. 

"The look on Jesse and Chanie's face when you said that was so worth it, I wish you could see!" Said Laurel. 

"Believe me, I'll see their faces _really_ good tomorrow in the bloodbath, they want me to die first and in the slowest way possible" I tell her. 

"Do you think.. we can be in an alliance? I can contribute, I know how to make snares and traps- even the complicated ones. And I did the gauntlet in record time so I'm fast and agile-" 

"Deal" I offer my hand to her. "That extents to you too, Robin" 

My district partner shakes his head. "I don't do alliances; I told Prim. Hiding alone is my best bet" 

I shrug. "You do you"

* * *

**Anastasia McMillan**

**District 2 female tribute**

Two people are yelling at me and I can't concentrate.

"Why the _hell_ would you mention Two's state?!- "-Who does she think she is?!-" "you think initiated the punishment-" -little bitch goes _first-_ " "Now you can bring us extra trouble!-" "-take her away from me!" Gigi is yelling straight at my face while Jesse is nagging next to my right ear. 

"I get it Gigi; I screwed up, okay? But it won't matter if I'm the victor, I'll deal with that-" Jesse stops talking as soon as I mention the possibility of me winning to simply add: "Or me, I could be victor too" 

"Sure. Anyways Jesse; Don't worry, I'm giving you premission to kill her as you'd like, she's yours, I'm sure Julian understands it too and will tell Chanie" 

"Good. Okay" 

No matter how hard I try, I can't sleep, I sneak past the entrance to the two compound and slide down in the silent elevator. 

A peacekeeper stops me. "Where do you think you're going- Anya?" 

That voice is painfully familiar. "Gwen?" I blink twice as she removes her helmet and I can see her face: she has a new scar across her cheeks and nose, and her hair is shorter. "Where have you been?!" I know I shouldn't yell, but I raise my voice anyway. 

"I do my serving here. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't know where I was going until the very last moment before I stepped on the train." 

I sigh. "You couldn't at least leave a message? I know some people did it, my dad wrote to my family back when he still was in the force" 

"Those who serve in the Capitol don't do that. And neither should we" she's steps back a few inches and I flinch. "What- what do you mean?" 

Gwen tears her eyes away from mine. "You know the rules: no relationships until the end of your serving" 

"That's only applies to the ones who date the other sex and can have accidental pregnancies and shit!" 

"No it doesn't; every type of relationship is a distraction in their eyes" 

I grab her arm. "Please, Gwenny, I'm here to win this and then you won't need to serve-"

"It's my best option to do. I'm sorry Anya, if you can win for Two that would be awesome.. but, I have to forget you in order to do my job, and you can't think about me in the arena." 

"But I love you!" I sound desperate, ' _makers why?!._

"I love you too, but you have to let me go for now. May the odds be ever in your favor; Anastasia" 

She puts her helmet back on and continues with her patrol. I lean against the cold metal doors that are part of the elevator and count to 10. 

_I might as well let it all out now, I won't be able to do that in the arena._

So I let the tears fall quietly down my face and do my best to not make any sounds. 

"You could use this" I didn't notice the paper being handied to me. Shit, this means whomever this is saw- still sees- me crying. I need to get it together.

I look up to see Katniss Everdeen. Her hair is down and her face are still half in makeup and she looks tired as hell. 

Wonderful, Cartwright's- my worst emeny for now- mentor is offering me a tissue because Gwen broke up with me- can my luck _get_ any shittier?!

"Thank you" I murmur. My head aches and sitting here actually made me tired. We enter the elevator in silence and I can't take my eyes off her in that revealing outfit and high heels- she's like, almost 40.. why would her stylist make her wear this thing? 

"Why are you here so late?" I can't stop myself from asking. "I could ask the same thing about you" she replies and I stare at my bare feet. "Is this a victor's thing?" 

The floor reaches Two's compound, before the doors open, Katniss simply says: "pray it won't be" 


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 1**

**Bree Cartwright, district 12**

Toto hands me the clothes for this year, as soon as I see the tank top I know the arena type immediately. "Desert, probably, at least a desert terrain" says Toto. 

The pants are long; but loose enough that I can fold them to make shorts if necessary. They are in brownish- red colored camouflage stains.

The clothes also contain a jacket and boots with strong leather sole. The jacket is warm and has inner pockets. 

"Even in deserts it's cold at night" Toto points out. It's the smartest comment I ever heard him say. 

Even despite the ridiculous amount of black eyeliner he supposedly wears "to show his support for 12" I can see his eyes darken, he's being serious for once.

"In the past ten years I've seen all kinds of tributes from Twelve. I really think you have a real shot at winning. I'm not allowed to bet, but ten years ago, as a watcher, I would've bet on you, Bree" 

"Thank you, I appreciate that" I manage to say, surprised at the show of respect from Toto Perone of all people. 

The glass tube separates me and him; he gives me one last nod before the tube starts rising and I find myself in darkness for a few seconds. 

The tube continues to rise and I squint at the sudden light of the sun in my eyes. I blink hard as Lidius Castepelle's voice booms over the speakers:

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Ninty-second anual hunger games begin" 

I have sixty seconds to calculate the best option to avoid Jesse and the other careers. I spot him five plates to my left, Chanie is seven plates to my right, Laurel is on the far right end of the semicircle.

If she's as fast as she says she is, she can outrun the careers and get to the cornucopia first, the bag of throwing stars is calling to me and she has her eyes on it.

Wait, a possible bad idea, Julian is on the far left side of the cornucopia; as far as I've seen in training, he mostly does close combat a sword- there is a perfect one lying on a crate in the middle, a bit too close to the bag of throwing stars Laurel is aiming to. Who knows? Maybe Julian is a good knives thrower like the sibling victors he shares his last name with?

I have thirty seconds left. 

I take a good look at the arena: a red rocky terrain with cliffs on both sides of the cornucopia. There's three curvy trails backed by sharp, red stone icicles- I'm sure one of the stronger careers can impale someone on one of these, but the icicles can give me shelter until I reach whatever it is beyond them. 

Twenty seconds. I need to break to the right, that's where Laurel will go and I can't lose her, not when she's supposed to get my best shot of a weapon. 

Fifteen seconds, I need to avoid Chanie, but she doesn't bother to look at me- unlike Jesse- I can see him cracking his knuckles in preparation. So maybe Jesse has some kind of deal to be the one who kills me. 

Ten seconds. He expects me to break right- am I really fast enough to manage that? No I need to confuse him.

Five, Four, three, two-

An explosion goes off, the gong is sounded seconds after that. I use Jesse's moments of suprise to break right anyway, grabbing whatever it is on the ground. 

_Faster, faster!_

I manage to slightly get away from the semicircle of plates before I am forced to the ground. I fall sideways, refusing to let Jesse pin me down. It still doesn't help as he manages to pin me anyway and pin my wrists down with one hand. We're close enough for me to see his light brown eyes filled with rage. 

His voice is not so sweet and beautiful as he swears and I realize why: he's got me pinned, but he'll have to let my wrists go in order to choke me, and he doesn't have a weapon. 

"Max; care to help me out and bring me something to stab her or slash her with?" He calls out and looks away from me for a second. 

His knees are on my stomech, so I use the best technique I could ever learn from female victors: go for the crotch. 

My knee clashes with him and he squeezes his eyes tight and his grip slightly lightens. I use the precious seconds to bring my hands forwards and punch him in the face. 

The second best trick I've seen female victors use is nails, I claw at whatever I can on his face but he recovers enough to headbutt me and send me down again. 

I take enough courage to bite at his wrist, this time; he swears out loud. I round up my knees from below him and desperately grab something from the pack I dropped; a metal bottle, I bring it on the side of his face and it colides with his cheek and sends him aside. 

I grab whatever I can thats next to me and sprint- the fastest I've ever run in my life. 

Something shrieks past and lodges itself in the limestone right past my ear: a throwing knife- _shit_. 

I pull the knife and continue running. Someone gives chase, I can hear it. I turn only for a second- Chanie is reaching for a second knife but I turn enough to throw her first one back at her, it hits her in the thigh, not my best throw, but good considering my possible concussion and the fact I'm still running. 

"Fuck you!" She yells out, but I continue on, not hearing her running feet behind me anymore.

* * *

**Anastasia McMillan, district 2**

"She fucking _bit_ me!" Jesse clenches his teeth as I pour liquid iodine on the bite mark Bree left on his wrist. I finish bandage the wound. "You're lucky It wasrt deep enough to cause any nerve damage, moron." I hiss at him. 

"He's lucky she didn't go for the neck. That would be super ironic" says Julian, who is sitting on a crate and polishing his sword. He's the first Richson since Gunther to use that instead of throwing knives. 

"Shut up. You couldn't catch the girl from Eleven after she got the throwing stars. She reached the cornucopia _first._ do you realize how bad that is?" Jesse replies and clunches his fingers together to make sure they still work. 

"All of you better hope Chanie got the job done" says Maximilian loudly. He's got nerve, and he's also right, we need to get rid of Bree as early as we can. 

Chanie enters the cornucopia's range spitting curses. As she gets closer I can see she's limping. There's a knife in her thigh. At least she did the smart thing and didn't pull it out yet. 

"That little _bitch!_ I swear on every single person in Panem I will find her and tear her limb from limb!" 

Julian and Max help her sit against one of the crates. They count slowly to three and pull the knife out. Chanie screams between teeth clunched. I bring them the liquid iodine I used on Jesse and go circle the cornucopia. 

The situation is bad, really bad. We probably lost sponsers to Bree thanks to her injuring two of us _and_ getting away. 

The only good thing sponser wise our team has going on is that there were ten deaths at the bloodbath- it included Vera with the bomb- and each of us got at least one. Max, Julian and I got two because we didn't exhaust ourselves with Bree fucking Cartwright. 

I get that she's a threat, but we can't let ourselves get too caught in killing her and let other tributes advantage. 

The seal shows Three girl, Vera, the Fives, the Six boy, the Seven boy- these two were by my hand- the Eight girl, the Nine girl, little Tille from 10- Chanie's only kill, quick and painless- and the boy from Eleven. 

Nine other tributes still alive, one of them is Bree, we- I -need to get them all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Day 2**

**Anastasia McMillan, district 2 tribute**

Our hunt last night brought no results. There are so many ways tributes could have gone in this arena; it's crampy, and there are so many possibilities with tributes shooting us down from the plateaus above. It's a shame Chanie is our only long ranged fighter- I mean, I'm pretty good with knives, but the dual swords attached to my belt feel natural there.

We eat breakfast to eat the food that will go bad in a few days- fruits, cheese, bread. 

"We need to split up, one ppair goes down the trail, one pair goes to the right. It's not that hard to find your way back. Max: you stand guard" says Jesse, the purple bruise on his cheek is visible now with light dawning on us. 

"Why should I stand guard? Chanie is injured and can't walk right" says Max. 

"He's got a point; Jesse" 

"No. Chanie is fine enough to go hunting with me, I'm more than capable to work though my pain" says Jesse. "You can come hunt tonight" 

"I guess that leaves me with Legacy boy" I roll my eyes and Julian chuckles. 

"Yeah yeah, we're taking the plateau to the right, that's where Cartwright went" Jesse arms himself with two axes and a longsword. 

I sneak four knives to my jacket's inner pockets. "No, you and Chanie are going down that icicle trail. See if you can find the others. It's Julian and mine's turn" 

Jesse opens his mouth to protest; "all in favour?" Julian and I raise our hands, Max does the same. 

Jesse sighs dramatically and leads Chanie down the icicle trail to whatever it is after them. 

"Lets go" I grab Julian's wrist and we start walking the way I saw Bree running of to. We'll find a way to reach higher ground and have a better look.

* * *

**Amethyst Wheeler**

**District 1**

**Victor of the 86th hunger games, mentor to Chanie Gazelle.**

I don't like the looks Jesse and Chanie exchange. 

The mentors room is pretty quiet at the time, usually during the day I don't receive any roses and envelopes telling me who I need to fuck, so that's a good sign.

The alliance mentors are sitting pretty close to eachother- especially me and Jeremy, that means with both see the same screen since our tributes are together. 

The main feed shows Anastasia and Julian, Gloss moves to sit next to Gigi. "Huh. Only five years since I stopped coming here and everything changed" 

"Not everything" Finnick calls out to his old friend from his seat. Beetee Latier is the only one separating the alliance mentors from eachother. 

I ignore them to focus back on Chanie, she's still limping at Jesse's side, but he slows down the pace so she can walk next to him. 

She whispers something I can't hear clearly but it makes him chuckle softly. 

They are close, too close. 

I barely got the chance to be a part of the alliance: since these fuckers turned on me on day five, then they were mauled by scorpion mutts- I later figured Elenia Snow sent the mutts after them. 

But in the few days the pack was okay, Orion from Two tried to get close to me and push the romance angle the Capitol goes nuts for. I went with it for a while. 

But romance angles are too risky. 

The main feed switches to show Bree Cartwright and her Eleven ally finding eachother, Eleven girl got a bag with 24 throwing stars. 

Bree uses two on a deer 200 feet away and I realize why she got a 9. 

That is bad, really bad. 

On my screen- now the main feed cuts to Chanie and Jesse- they continue to follow the tracks when Chanie asks him to sing something. 

"I don't think it's a good idea. If there are tributes around, they would hear it" I didn't expect him to actually make a smart comment, but good for him!

"We can always catch them later. I didn't see any of them with a pack. Certainly not with a weapon" Chanie waves it off and I want to crawl through the screen and punch some sense into her. 

Jesse starts pretty quietly, that only the audience- they're still on the main screen- can hear him clearly. Jeremy and I exchange the same look: we both want to save them from themselves. 

There's a movement behind the rocks that surround them. Ten boy, he thought he could get away while they are both distracted. But- and I salute their sharp focus- Jesse stops as soon as the boy breaks away from his hiding and Chanie reaches for a knife.

She hits his leg and he falls down. Of course she could hit right between the eyes, but I see her aim: she wants Jesse to finish the job. 

Jesse pulls out the sword and drives it through the boy's heart with a blank face. 

The canon fires and Jesse stands there in silence for a few moments. Chanie limps towards him and puts a hand around his waist. "C'mon. The sun is gonna set in about an hour" 

Jesse shakes off the blank expression and nods, he doesn't tell her to leave him, but instead wraps his hand around _her_ waist as they walk along. 

The sun has almost set and they still didn't reach the cornucopia. The anthem plays and Ten boy's face flash in the sky. 

They stop to rest against one of the icicles. "We can sleep here for tonight. We'll reach the cornucopia tomorrow" he says. Chanie wraps her jacket tighter around her. Jesse sees it and pulls out a blanket he put in his pack amd opens it for her. 

Oh 'makers. Why?! 

"Thanks" her smile is clearly flirty. The Capitol eats it up as they snuggle closer to eachother to reserve body heat. 

Non of it is real, of course. They are fantastic actors. But romance angles usually end in violent or heartbreaking deaths for one- or both, if the gamemakers _really_ want to break the viewers hearts. 

I just need to keep Chanie from being that death. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Night 5**

**Bree Cartwright, district 12 tribute**

The last three days focused on making the trench Laurel and I hid in- back when Anastasia and Julian were out hunting- a safer place. 

Laurel didn't lie about her ability to make traps, the 100 feet radius around out trench is filled with booby traps of all kinds and from the most basic materials. 

She also set traps to catch animals and stuff, snares I remember seeing the illegal fence hunters use- remember Katniss using. 

So far, we're good. But since there was only Ten boy dying since the bloodbath, I know the gamemakers will force us to come out of our hiding any day now. 

Laurel sleeps as I stand guard, and soon enough I see the arena hazzard clearly meant for us: a huge sand storm I'm pretty sure store much more than just sand.

"wake up, wake up!" I shake her awake. "We need to run, now!" 

So maybe staying in a trench within the canyon is a bad Idea, but I don't see any road that can lead us to higher ground. I keep my pace good and Laurel has passed me.

On my left, I see the little hole where Chanie's throwing knife hit: This road leads to the cornucopia, _shit. Shit!_

"look! There on the right!" Laurel peeps, and I see what she means: a hidden narrow passway between the two plateau's, thick enough for me to squeeze into. 

We don't waste and time and enter it, squeezing in as deep as we can. On second thought, The passway is thick enough for me to sit on my heels and breath. 

I can't see anything since the passway is narrow in a way I can't see the moon. But I know Laurel is right next to me. 

She cries out in pain. "What's wrong?" I grope in the darkness for her hand. 

"I hit something, It's cold and smooth- like some kind of metal." She replies 

I move my hand across the limestone till I find it: it's a hanger made of metal, I move my hand up and find another: "It's a ladder upwards. Maybe we can climb higher its safer" I study my foot at the first level and find the second hanger, I stretch to find the third one and continue up till I can see the moon again. 

I hurriedly pull myself onto the cliff so I can help Laurel get on safely. 

From the plateau we're standing on, I can see the smoke and the light of a fire from the cornucopia. "We can't stay here, we can see the careers and that means they can see us, let's move" I move as silently as I can the way we came- this time up high. The plateu's terrain is more rocky and moving forwards I can see trees. 

Trees mean cover, good.

I spend the first half of day 6 dosing off; last night was a challenge and we both needed to rest. In the small forest there were more chances to run into an animal, so we waste more wire on snares, hopefully something wil catch on. 

Near the afternoon i go to check if we caught anything: Laurel set three traps: the first two are empty, weirdly empty. 

The third has a lizard in it, crushed by a rock. I pick it up when I hear a rustle nearby.

Someone's here, someone human. 

She barely has time to jump of the tree and I already throw a throwing star on her, it hits Seven girl right in the face. 

She drops and her canon fires immediately. 

In her hands, she's holding another lizard and a bird- the bird has no head, so I recognize the guillotine trap I helped Laurel make. 

Seven girl stole from us, apparently. 

I go back to the tree we used to camp near, Laurel is waiting there. She jumps when she sees me. "What happened? I saw the hovercraft close to here, I thought it was for you!" 

"It was for Seven girl. I killed her" 

Saying these words aloud cause the reality to sink in. _I killed her. Someome died by my hand and without even attacking me first._

I have no excuse for why I did it.

Another canon fires and I know the careers found someone. 

_How different am I from them now?_

* * *

**Day 6 afternoon**

**Anastasia McMillan**

**District 2 female tribute.**

"Let's go. The hovercraft will want to take his body now" 

9 boy is lying at my and Max's feet. Both our swords hir him at the same time. 

"Who do you think the canon was earlier?" Max asks as we turn around to go back to the cornucopia. "Don't know. Let's hope it wasn't for Bree. Jesse and Chanie will flip" 

Julian is in the middle of monolouging- probably for the audiance when we enter. "We got one" I announce. "I don't know who the other canon was for but that's two less tributes in the game" 

Julian tilts his head. "Let me guess, that someone wasn't Bree Cartwright" 

"No" 

Julian mumbles a swear. 

"Where is Chanie and Jesse? They should be back by now, the sun has almost set" I look to the cliffs they set out for. 

Julian looks over to the crates and I follow his actions. They both grabbed two big packs before they left and- 

"I don't think they'll come back" I bite my lip.

Night is different without Jesse's soft hums or Chanie's annoying comments from time to time. But we set up our fire in quiet. 

"How's your family like?" I ask Julian. 

"Well my mom is Gloss and Cashmere's cousin from Savannah's side. She always pushed me hard to be like them and put _Our_ side of the family on the victor map" he laid back "Especially after the drama twenty years ago with Gunthar's ilegitimate son from the Capitol. I still carry the name because its a brand. A way to get attention and sponsers." 

"So your name is actually Julian Goldstine?" 

"Julian Goldstine-Ivory, at your service" 

I take first watch and find myself staring at the artificial stars. Last year Achilles Demourt explained to everyone what each group meant: I can spot the big dipper and Orion the hunter, Achilles wasn't wrong- the stars are fascinating. 

For a few minutes, I forgot where I was, forgot I was fighting for my life here, forgot Gwen. 

I drift off before I manage to wake Julian up for his shift. 

* * *

**Day 7**

**Amethyst Wheeler,** **District 1**

**Victor of the 86th hunger games; mentor to Chanie Gazelle.**

Chanie is being more stupid than I thought.

She strolls alongside Jesse as her leg is getting better due to the antibiotics sent for her. A large pack on her back. 

These two idiots have split from the pack. 

Next to me, Jeremy leans his head between his hands. "My first tribute doesn't take any of my fucking advices. He's gonna get himself killed." 

"She's not my first tribute, but mine usually listen to what I tell them" I reply. 

Gloss hasn't left his screen last night, I asked him to watch Chanie while I'm did my round- a short one: just three clients, an hour each. 

When I got back I found him cursing quietly: Anastasia fell asleep while on watch duty, now three important packs are missing. Taken by Aldern- Three boy- and Amy-Rose -Six girl- who teamed up. 

"We're lucky they didn't try to slit their throats when they slept" said Gigi. 

"Its _your_ tribute's fault, Hendricks!" Gloss attacks her. 

Gigi remains still. " _Your_ cousin should've seen it coming and wake up to do his shift" 

"Both of you.. just be grateful and shut up" I hiss. Chanie is pissing me off with her decision and I can't stay put; 

I need to see Elenia. 

"Care to call up Bianca to man the station?" I ask Gloss. "I'm going out for awhile. I need to leave this room" 

"Sure" Gloss reaches for the phone. As I exit the hallway towards the stairs I walk past Bianca. "She left the pack" I sigh.

"What a dumbass" she groans, then adds: "I can only stay for three hours; this afternoon I have a meeting" 

"Sure, it won't be long. Promise" 

The presidental mansion is closed to victors, well, except me. 

"Miss Snow is in a meeting for now" says the peacekeeper outside her room. "Do you know who I am?" I bark. "It's still important, Miss Wheele-"

"There's no need to lie. Amethyst is always welcome" says a calm voice from inside. Elenia is sitting with her grandfather for lunch. They both have a special tone reserved for those who serve them. 

"Elenia, Mr president" I greet. 

"Miss Wheeler, a pleasant surprise" says the president. 

"Thank you sir, had to get away from the mentoring room for a while" 

"Well" he sips from his glass. "I'm sure you're here to see Elenia. I won't deny you a private meeting" he grabs his cane, the peacekeepers begin to leave with him but one of them hangs back.

"I'm very capable of protecting myself and Elenia" I stare him down. "It's you we're worried about. One" he's wearing a Capitol badge so I don't engage: it's dangerous to. 

Finally, I'm here with Elenia. Alone. 

"Are you okay?" She asks softly.

"My tribute is an idiot, that's all" 

"Chanie? Why?" 

"She split from the pack with Jesse, I don't trust him" I sit back, angry. 

Elenia moves her chair close to me. "I'm sure it's nothing. They are crowd favorites. The gamemakers won't intervene" 

"Maybe you're right" I sigh and lay my head on her shoulder. "I just.. really wanna get a tribute out- my tribute. Not Gloss' or Augustus"

"That can be arranged" Elenia mumbles. 

I freeze. "No. Not like that. I- I was a one time thing. If One wins, it's gonna be fair. The other districts hate us already" 

Elenia smiles. "Of course; I know. Fair; like I always asked my grandfather to be" 

I give her a small kiss. "Good. Sorry it was short; but I need to go back to the mentors room. Bianca isn't good with that stuff" 

She deepens the kiss and I don't resist. "Goodbye. My love" 

I go back to the mentor room, the main feed shows Chanie and Jesse sitting against a cliff.

"I want you to promise me you won't break my heart, because if you betray me, I won't be able to take it- not physically or mentally. I need you to promise me we're in this till the end" Chanie holds his hand tight. 

Jesse chuckles softly. "Really, that's what you think, okay-" he pulls his hand and presents it, as if to shake hers. "Hi, I'm Jesse" 

She stares at him, confused. "I know who you are" 

"You know Jesse Del Rey, district 2's loyal tribute; your enemy in the games. Let me introduce you to _Jesse_ , the guy who's nuts about you, who will stay with until there's no other way to win. This Jesse will never hurt you" 

Chanie shakes his hand then presses her lips to his. Yelene is going soft for them; the Capitol is so in their favor. Jesse moves his hand through her hair gently. 

Honestly. I'm not sure what's the level of acting in this point. Either they are really committed to the role, or there are things that starting to crack beyond the facade. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Gleek ass had to put a Glee dialogue when I (unintentionally i swear) named him Jesse. So I decided to include that scene from one of my favorite S1 episodes


	7. Chapter 7

**Day 8**

**Anastasia McMillan**

**District 2**

Eight boy is trying to fight me back, but a slash across the throat is all it takes: quick. I hate to draw out the deaths. 

The canon fires and I turn back and start heading the long way to the cornucopia. Another canon fires almost ironically after. 

Now there's the three of us, Chanie and Jesse, Bree, three boy, Six girl, the Fives, Eleven girl and Bree's district partner. 

Well that's one less of them to worry about. 

Something rustles close by and I jump, raising my swords in front of me. A huge snake crawls out of one of the holes in cracks. 

I freeze, the survival trainers at the training center said to freeze when you see one. I start moving as quietly as I can closer to the wall.

I sulk at the wall when I feel something hard and cold against my back. I look around, a ladder of metal hangers is leading up to the cliff.

I quickly go up, before breathing a sigh of relief, the snake can't catch me now. 

The arena looks bigger from above, I can see the icicles from here, and there's a big abyss at the end of the icicles trail, at least that's what it looks like from here. 

The sun is still not halfway through the sky so I turn to look at the cliff I'm standing on: its a pretty smooth and straight terrain here, but I can see bushes and trees ahead. 

If I found a ladder, maybe some others did too, and I would go to the trees if I was them.

There are definitely other tributes here, maybe, with luck, Bree is one of them.

* * *

**Finnick Odair**

**District 4**

**Victor of the 65th hunger games, mentor to Max Ferrel.**

Max is chasing three boy and Six girl and is zigzagging between the icicles. He's fast, the main focus now on him after Anastasia's and Julian's kills: Eight boy and Bree's district partner. 

_you can do this, Max._

sure, I don't think the Capitol will let is win back to back. They only want back to back if there's a good contender from the district, and with the amounts of screen time he got, Max is not a real contender in the eyes of Capitolites. He's like a background character.

Earlier today Bree and Laurel constructed a complicated trap on the other side of the cliff Anastasia is now on. It both curious and terrifies me how it'll work and on who. 

"I can't believe you're sticking with me after I killed that girl" she said earlier. "You are my ally. You're doing what I don't have the guts to do" Laurel messed with the throwing stars, setting her trap. 

"Well you are rather an impressive ally" says Bree. 

I stopped by Katniss and Prim's table, Robin is dead, so Prim is technically out of the games. 

"You're sponsers bank is quite full" I tell them. Prim nods "we're not sure what to do with all that money. We never got this much" 

"You send them food and stuff for their trap. I'd say that's good" 

Now Max continues to chase the two down the trail. That ends abruptly in an abyss, a canyon. Before he manages to catch them, Amy-Rose, the six girl, Jumps on three boy's back and they jump into it.

 _click._ something opened, they were carried by a parachute made out of a blanket- they stole it from the cornucopia- and some wires, but it was big enough for both of them to be on, they gently float to the ground. 

They vanish from Max's sight and I hear a sound of impaling. 

Two canons follow. 

Max stands there, a bit shocked for a few seconds. 

_Keep_ _going, kid._

Atalanta joins me in the booth. She looks tired and I can already tell she's after a round. "I think you should sleep" I tell her. 

"No; I need to forget this round even happened. now, how about you go to sleep- or talk to Annie on the hologram while I look after Max?"

"Atalanta, we talked about reppressing your emotions.. up until last year I knew exactly what you go through. Please, at least talk to me when I get back, okay?" 

She doesn't look away from the screen. "Okay"

* * *

**Night 8**

**Bree Cartwright**

**District 12**

Katniss sent me a note that says "keep an eye open" along with two bottles of clean water. 

That was when I heard two canons. In addition to the ones we heard earlier. 

The anthem shows 3 boy, 6 girl, 8 boy and Robin.

I feel a little pinch in my stomach, he still was from home, even if he didn't want an alliance. Now he's dead by Julian or Anastasia or Maximilian. 

"I'm sorry" says Laurel quietly. "I kind of liked him. Really hoped he would join us" 

"It's okay. He didn't want to and that was his choice" 

I take first watch, Laurel is sleeping quietly on a thick branch, keep both of us in place is our belts.

Something rustles close to me: I grab a throwing star and scan the entire area. 

Something moves down bellow: a tribute. I see a flash of long hair and know it's a girl. I narrow my eyes. The only girls left in the game are Chanie, Anastasia and the Five girl.. I _really_ hope it's the five girl. 

The girl stands up and I bite my lip hard. It's Anastasia, on her own with a nothing but a small pack. She sits down with her back to our tree, opens her bag and swears. She pulls up an energy bar and crunches on it slowly. She runs her fingers through her hair and closes her eyes. 

"Look, I know you broke up with me, but it doesn't have to be the end" she mutters, talking to the cameras. " and I'm sorry for telling it on live TV but I really had to get it out of the system if I'm gonna win this. I get it, you wanna do your job and that's important.. just, don't forget about me when you do okay? I heard some victors return to the Capitol so at the very least we can be friends again. Right?" 

So she's talking about an ex, one shes clearly not over on. 

"You're such an amazing girl, I don't wanna lose you for good. So, friends?" She offers her hand up to the camera I know there's on the opposite tree. 

Of course; she receives no answer. 

I ready the throwing star, but Laurel leans her hand against some leaves that drop to the ground. 

Anastasia jumps up, two swords in her hands. Her eyes dart around, alert, looking for danger. She slowly backs away from the tree, but we're so high up she can't see us, not clearly. 

I can throw it if I want to, I am positive I can hit a major artery if I want to. But I'm not like her, she isn't attacking me and I won't kill her just for the sake of it. 

She continues deeper into the little forest and I drift off.

* * *

**Day 9**

**Amethyst Wheeler**

**District 1**

**Victor of the 86th hunger games and Mentor to Chanie Gezelle.**

The two love birds continue on with their tracking of Bree, they talk; they kiss occasionally, they sing. They take the most screen-time. 

They are both good looking too, that's what I'm worried about. 

They stopped to rest down a cliff, little did they know that cliff is where they'll find Bree and her ally. 

"There has to be a way to climb on top of these cliffs, I bet all the other tributes are here. We just need to find it" says Chanie. 

That's when the throwing star hits her in the back. She screams and I flinch. _where the fuck did that came from?!_

Jesse jumps up, sword in hand. Another two throwing stars hit Chanie's arms. She drops to her knees. Jesse takes two steps back

Her vitals are dropping. "Jesse, don't leave me!" She cries, he takes another two steps. "Please!" She tries again. 

"I-" for once; he's standing speechless. "I'm sorry" he says quietly before turning on his heels and running off. "Don't leave me!" She calls out after him. "I don't wanna go alone.." 

I blink hard to block out the tears threatening to come. 

Her canon fires a minute later. 

There was nothing else he could have done, but Jesse could at least give her a merciful death and put her out of her misery. Instead he just ran, I guess that counts as betrayal. 

"Hey.. I don't think you should stay here" Gloss pats my shoulder. "Nonsense, I can help you track Julian, find sponsers-" I begin "No, Amethyst. You need to rest before your round. Tommorow you can come help, I can handle Julian alone" as my former mentor, he still worries about me, I'm thankful for that. 

"Fine" I leave the mentor room with my feet shaking. 

I find myself going to the presidential mansion again. I could use Elenia's comfort. 

She steps out of the parlor where she watched the games with the president and leads me to her room. "You did everything you could" she squeezes me close to her. 

"It's not enough" 

"You couldn't predict what she'll do in the arena" Elenia counter-argues. 

"I could warn her and I didn't" the tears are threatening to return.

_I just wanna bring one alive. I'm so done with going down to that damned room and stare at the girl's dead eyes and stand in front of the parents and tell them how sorry I am because I'm a shitty mentor who can't do her job right_

"Think of it that way" Elenia sits me down on her bed then lies next to me. "You know what would've happened if she came out victorious. You don't want her to become like you; right?" 

From the moment I got to actually talk to her, Elenia voiced her strong opinions about her grandfather's rules: including selling the victors. The amount of times she swore to eliminate this tradition made me appreciate her even more. 

_you know deep down the lucky ones are the ones who die in the arena._ A bitter voice that sounds suspiciously like Cashmere's tells me. 

"No. That's the last thing I'd want." I bite my lip. 

"Then at least she lived without knowing. Without having to deal with this like you" Elenia strokes my arm gently. 

"Lucky idiot" I mutter.

* * *

**Bree Cartwright**

**District 12**

I block out the screams as I make another snare Laurel taught me. I know the one we set up yesterday works, I heard Chanie. 

Laurel went scouting the arena for other tributes and to see if we got food to cook on the other traps. 

But she should be back by now. 

I ignore the fear and go to reset the trap with three more throwing stars, I have eleven left now. 

I ignore the red pools of blood down where Chanie's body was a few minutes ago. _I should just look for Laurel._

I know the trap's purpose is to kill, I know that at some point, If I live long enough, I'll have to face someone- probably Jesse, or Julian. If I'm realistic- and do it directly again. The seven girl still fresh in my mind. 

That's the price you have to pay If you wanna live. Kill, or be killed, it's simple. It's the whole point of these goddamn games. 

Sure; some victors didn't kill anybody, but they are so few I can count them on one hand: Annie Cresta, Dorian Atlo, Seeder Howell, Grover Lee.

Hell, even Prim killed someone. 

I sulk around the forest to find two of our traps empty, the third still has some kind of bird caught in it.

Either someome if stealing from us again, or something bad happened. I look around fanatically, before making a risky decision- especially considering Anastasia being around: "Laurel? Laurel, it's me!" I call out. 

I hear a whimper behind me and whip out a throwing star. 

Anastasia holds Laurel close to her body- almost covering it- her two swords pressed in an X around Laurel's throat. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Bree Cartwright**

**District 12**

I adjust my aim on the throwing star.

"You won't throw it" says Anastasia calmly. "I can promise you, I'm fast enough to slice her throat in the time it takes to lodge itself in my brain." 

"Would you kill a 15 year old girl on TV? I don't know, seems like a dumb choice that will cost you sponsers" I taunt.

Her eyes narrow for a bit. She's thinking about my question. 

"Yes, if it means one less opponent down. If not for me, then for Jesse" she says, tightening her short swords around Laurel's throat, the younger girls cries out. "Bree!" 

"How do you know Jesse isn't the canon from earlier?" I know there's a possibility she saw what went down, she was close, and maybe she could hear the screams that clearly weren't Jesse. 

Her eyes widen. 

So she didn't heard Chanie. Maybe I can work with that....

"I saw him. it was nasty, three knives to the back and arms; he bled out real bad down there. Chaine got away and she's teaming up with Julian." 

Anastasia's face turn into a scowl. Good. If I can turn her against Julian, she might leave us alone. "You're lying" she hisses. 

"I'm not. My guess is that you haven't seen the alliance for a while, and there are only your alliance, us and the fives. Maybe Chanie wanted to surprise the audience? Or she got tired of him? It doesn't matter; he's still dead" 

Anastasia lifts Laurel off the ground. "You better not fucking lie to me, Cartwright. Or Ill swear this girl will be dead faster then you can blink" 

A canon fires in the distance.

I use that distraction to throw the throwing star. Anastasia doesn't move fast enough and it hits her shoulder. She groans in pain and puts Laurel in front of her, like a human shield. 

Something sweeps behind me, the trees start shaking. I look to my right and see the sandstorm from earlier in the games. 

I start to run knowing Anastasia would run too and drag Laurel with her, I don't look at them; I'm focused on running forward. The narrow passway we climbed from is still there. Another canon fires. 

Only now I notice how narrow it actually is, I think it's narrow enough for me to jump over it, I speed my pace and hope for the best:

I crush on the hard ground of the other cliff and hear someone landing near me.

Anastasia is standing perfectly on her feet, her shoulder is dripping with blood and so are her swords. I freeze.

There was a canon when I ran from the sandstorm. For Laurel.

* * *

**Anastasia McMillan**

**District 2**

I hated having to kill the Eleven girl, she was 15, I think? And leverage.

But during the sandstorm she was a liability. 

Bree Cartwright now fully grasps what happened to her little ally. She charges at me, neglecting her bag of throwing stars. 

"You _killed_ her!" she yells. She has enough momentum to knock me down; but she's also almost half my size and I can kick her off me far enough. 

"It's the _hunger games!_ you knew she wouldn't survive. _"_ I spit. 

She gets up again, shaken. I draw my swords. "Go ahead, kill me. I wanna see you try" she hisses, blood is dripping from one side of her face.

I charge with my swords pointed forward, she avoids the slash and kicks low at my ankle. I feel myself crushing down.

Bree grabs one of my swords and pushes the blade close to my throat. Her nails yank my head backwards so the blade is pressed to my neck. 

But she doesn't slash. 

Instead she grabs something- a rock, maybe?- and rams it into the side of my head. 

Everything fades to black. 

My head is throbbing when I wake up, I can barely see anything so my guess is that it's probably nighttime already. 

I hear the sound of a flame crackling next to me. 

"You missed the anthem" says a voice dryly.

It feels weird to sit up, everything around me spins, my ears are ringing. "Not so fast. Okay? I got you some wet thing to put on your wound but you probably have a concoction" 

Jesse sits across from me, feeding the fire with dry branches. 

"You're _alive"_ I barely recognize my own voice. Whats wrong with me? 

His eyebrows furrow. "Yeah. What, you had your doubts?" 

"That Twelve _bitch_ lied then. Can't believe I fell for it" Jesse continues to stare at the fire. "It was for Chanie, the other canons were for the five girl and the eleven girl" 

" _I_ killed the Eleven girl. Then Cartwright attacked me and was about to finish the job. Guess she got cowardly" My vision isn't that blurry anymore. That's good, right?

"That leaves only our alliance and her. And five boy" Jesse says. 

"There is no alliance ever since you left with your _girlfriend_. Its just me, Julian and Max, hunting alone. I don't think theres even someone at the cornucopia right now." I press the wet cloth on my wound and my face twist in pain. 

"Then lets get down there, I'll go grab stuff for us. You can wait and gaurd here. I saw the ladder on the passway" Jesse stands up. 

"There is no "we" Jesse, you abandoned the pack, there are six tributes left." 

"I know. I know and I was wrong. I watched Chanie die because of Cartwright's dammed trap. I'm asking for your help to kill her" he says. Looking over the distance. 

"Well I wanna kill Cartwright too. You know what, Let's agree to truce. I'll come with you to the cornucopia but then each of us is going their own way: if we have to end it in a fight between us, so be it"

He smiles. "Good. We're a great finale" 

We climb down the letter and quietly sneak to the cornucopia. It seems empty as we run through the supplies, both taking the best ones to ourselves.

I pick behind a crate and see Five boy, shaking. He runs off like a deer and manages to get to the semicircle of plates before Jesse jumps him and ends it quickly. 

The canon fires and with it comes a massege: "attention five remaining tributes. Tommorow with dawn, 8 hours from now, a feast will commence. You wouldn't want to miss it would you? Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor" 

Jesse and I cross looks and I smile.

"Let's stay here for a while, at least until after the feast" I lick my lips. "Like you said. We're a great finale"

* * *

**Day 10**

**Finnick Odair**

**District 4**

**Victor of the 65th hunger games, mentor to Max Ferrel**

as dawn slowly approaches I watch Max sulk around the rock icicle trail. 

He's headed to the cornucopia. 

Sure; the gamemakers would probably drive the tributes to the feast if they choose to not go, but Anastasia and Jesse are both there, resting against some crates and waiting for sunrise. 

Right now however, Max's biggest threat is Julian. Who's also around the rock icicle trail, just up ahead. The calculated victor legacy would probably try and kill Max before he even reaches the cornucopia. 

"He needs to confront Julian" Achilles is sitting next to me, this is the first time he said something since he sat. 

"If he confronts him then he's wasting energy, he'll have to confront Anastasia and Jesse in the cornucopia and needs to save his strength" I reply. 

"The people want them to confront eachother, a repeat of last year. Most of them are rooting for Julian to get revenge for Jaime" 

_That is a smart observation, one that only someone who met Capitolites in close quarters can guess..._

I think I'm gonna be sick again. I can't watch him become the new me. 

When the president told me I will be free when Achilles wins, all I could think about is my freedom after years of selling myself out. But when I look at the blank mask or fake smiles in the sponsers den I feel nothing but pity. 

Achilles doesn't deserve this. 

"Shit" Achilles is shifting in his seat and I see why: Julian has seen Max; no more element of surprise, no point in running. 

They both ready their swords before charging, I note that Julian steps forward with his lest and weaker leg, meaning he's injured. Five girl put up a fight yesterday.

Max attacks from the right, using Julian's moments of losing focus against him: Julian parries, Max makes sure that Julian's weight is on his wounded leg, that causes him to groan in pain. 

Max is pushing Julian against the rock icicle and I bite my lip hard. This is not a good situation to be in; Max would have to step away a bit to drive the sword in Julian, so Max takes the risk...

That was all Julian needed because he uses Max releasing him to disarm and knock the sword away from Max's hands. 

Max dodges Julian's first attempt of a hit. But on the second slash, Julian manages to slice at Max's arm, Max reaches for the sword he dropped but Julian nails him to the ground with his foot. 

I close my eyes when Julian drives the sword through Max's back and don't open them until I hear a canon. 

"It was obvious they won't let him live" says Achilles quietly. 

"I know. Let's just leave" I stand up and exit the room.

Reporters are waiting for us; to ask us about Max, about his death, we both smile and answer what we both know they want us to. 

Achilles goes to the remake center and I walk to the compound; trying really hard not to think about Achilles or Atalanta and what they have to do.

* * *

**Bree Cartwright**

**District 12.**

I watch the sun slowly rise from my place on the cliffs across from where I camped with Laurel, across from where she died. 

_I won't go to the feast. I won't do what they asked._

A canon fired about an hour ago, that's a good sign, one more death on the way to victory. 

Anastasia and Jesse are at the cornucopia, If I'm focusing really hard I can see their little shadows running around: they wait, they spar, they talk about the tributes still alive. 

Julian or Max are probably near the icicle trail, as soon as he's in a throwing range I'll act, I still have six throwing stars. 

The ground shakes beneath me and I look on my right: the cliffs where we camped are breaking apart, so are the far ones near where I camp. 

_Goddamn gamemakers._

I run to the ladder I used to get on and quickly run down. 

I'm within a sight of the cornucopia. Shit. 

Julian breaks from the icicle trail, but before Anastasia or Jesse can even see, I whip out a throwing star and chuck it at Julian. It hits this chest but he's still running- either I Merely grazed him, or the adrenaline is keeping him alive.

I chuck another throwing star at him. It hits the back of his head. This time he drops.

A canon fires and I know Jesse and Anastasia are after me: the plateaus on either side of the icicle rocks are still standing, and I run to the first ladder I see, halfway hidden. I scramble to the top.

Bad idea, Jesse reaches the plateau first and Anastasia is quick to follow. They both are holding their blades in their hands, fierce determination in their eyes. 

"You're pretty good Cartwright, a shame you grew up in twelve' says Anastasia. "You would've been a killer tribute for Two" 

"A killer in all means, like you two. I won't go down without a fight" 

The two exchange a glance. "Niether will we" 

They both charge at me at the same time, I chuck one throwing star in their general direction- it hits Anastasia's thigh and causes her to trip, Jesse keeps going, pushing me to the edge as I try to avoid getting slashed or stabbed by his sword. 

_If I can lead him beyond the edge, I can take on Anastasia, she's injured and not in her prime._

My albow jabs into his face and I kick his sword away- don't ask me how- Even I don't know the true powers of pure spite and adrenaline. 

Jesse moves to punches and kicks, in that I'm less good in avoiding.

Before I grasp whats going on Jesse grabs me by my ankles, throws me over his back and then forth beyond the edge. 

The last thing I got to see was the sun high up in the sky. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Amethyst Wheeler**

**District 1**

**Victor of the 86th hunger games.**

"Are you okay?" 

Gloss isn't answering and I bite my lip hard. The hovercraft takes away his body as Anastasia, Jesse and Bree each race up one of the plateaus

"Do you want me to take care of the body and stuff? I feel like you could use a break to talk with Cash" I try again, He doesn't answer. 

I tag at his wrist. "Please.. Gloss, say _something._ This isn't the first tribute you lost and I'm sure Margot will be okay" 

"I should have paid close attention." Is all he says. 

"It's not your fault, Cartwright killed him" 

"Margot will find a way to blame it on me" 

I stand up. "So don't take any of her shit! What does she know about being in the arena? She never stepped a foot in the victors village and she never will, you can't save them all and it's not _your_ fault for trying your best" 

Gloss sighs. "I guess you're right" 

"If Cartwright wins, your cousin can put all the blame she wants on her" I add. 

It is on that moment we both see Bree get impaled on the sharp end of the rock icicle.

* * *

**Anastasia McMillan**

**District 2**

I don't dare to move. Blood is still dripping from my thigh where Cartwright's throwing star hit me, Jesse is still facing away from me and I'm terrified of what'll happen when he turns.

_If he can do that, what will he do to me?!_

Jesse turns and drops to his knees. The next thing I know he's vomiting as the hovercraft picks up Bree's body behind him. 

I wanna vomit too, I can feel the bile rising in my throat and I turn sideways, but nothing is coming out. 

Jesse is still on his knees, moving his fingers through his hair, he's breathing heavily. 

All this week-and-a-half we chased her and tried to kill her, now she's dead; her end wasn't pretty at all. 

I force myself to stand up, my thigh is burning and I clench my teeth hard as I study myself and pull my swords out. 

"Get up. You said it yourself: we're a great finale. So get up and fight me" 

Jesse shakly rises to his feet and readies himself with his sword in a starting position, I make the first move. He blocks it with ease. 

Last night we had a chance to spar like this; we were restless so we entertained the crowds with simple combat spars and sometimes, we used our blades. 

Thinking about last night is enough for me to lose my focus as Jesse disarms me and kicks below my wound. 

_Damnit, I wanna scream so badly._

He drags me as I thrash and kick and scrach at whatever I can, but he grabs me in a chokehold. I try kicking but there are tears starting to form in my eyes so I can't see anything- I'm probably kicking air. 

_This isn't how I wanna go!_ I try biting my way but Jesse holds still. I can feel something being slipped into my boot; it's a switchblade. 

Why would Jesse- "you need to make it look like you had it there since the beginning" Jesse whispers closely and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who can hear him. 

"What. You want me to- but why?!" I whisper back. 

"I can't handle this- I can't handle what comes with being a victor. That's why I'm glad you're my final rival: I can die safely knowing Two is victorious, knowing you can restore our honor" he mumbles. "Now take the switchblade and stab me, I can't hold you for much longer- they'll get suspicious" 

"No. I wanna win and I don't mind dying knowing _you're_ the victor" I say; muffed by his elbow. 

"I can't walk out and look Katniss Everdeen in the eye, okay? I can't visit twelve knowing what I've done, please Anastasia. Kill me or I'll jump over the cliff myself" he unleashes me for a second "to breath" allegedly- before he holds me back again. 

"Anastasia.. please" even if he whispers, I can still hear the plea in his voice. He really wants to die.

I shift my angle so I can reach clumsly for the switchblade before taking it out and stabbing Jesse, he's a great actor and I can almost believe his shock when I send the knife across his throat to end it quick. The final canon fires.

I break free from his grasp and lie not so far on my side. I feel so tired I might not ever wake up. All I can hear is the faint sound of a hovercraft and trumpets.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: tbe victor of the 92nd annual hunger games: Anastasia McMillan!"

* * *

I wake up in a green room, my head feels heavy and I'm thirsty, like, _really_ thirsty. I spot a water bottle and chug most of it. There's a note attached that says _Anastasia, shower first, call up this number later.- G._

So Gigi does care, I didn't expect it. 

The Shower feels heavenly after the past ten days. I watch carefully for the stitches in my leg as I wash the past days away. 

I pick the least extravagant outfit I can find in the closet and call up the number listed on the note. "I'll be right with you" said Gigi firmly. 

So she did. "How long was I out?" I ask as we sip coffee in the livingroom of Two's compound. 

"16 hours. They delayed your victory party for tommorow night. For now you can sort of rest" Gigi's face darkened. "Look. There's something that happnens on victory night with the previous year's victor.... you're gonna have to sleep with him" 

I raise my eyebrows. "Sleep with him? But I don't like boys that much"

"They don't care what you want. And you have to agree to their terms. We don't want more trouble" 

I begin to argue. "Of course but why do I need-"

"It's a rule that existed even before Aria-Mae D'ivoire. Okay? Its been like that for years; you're not special" Gigi crosses her arms. "That also means you're gonna have to sleep with the victor of next year" 

I sigh. "I wanna talk to the president about it"

Gigi sneers. "Good luck. He even asked you for a meeting tomorrow for lunch. You can tell him then"

"Really?" I jump. 

Gigi weighs her opinion on something.. "just. Be careful around him okay? He's the guy behind all the punishments" 

"Ill talk to him about Two as well" I need to write this down. 

"Hopefully he'll go soft and undo the curfews and fund cuts and shit: maybe all we need is a new Two victory like you" Says Gigi 

Victor, I'm a victor. I'm still getting used to it. 

I'm the victor of the 92nd hunger games.


	10. Chapter 10

**Anastasia McMillan**

**District 2**

**Victor of the 92nd hunger games**

"You asked to see me, Mr President, sir?" 

I stand as tall and formal as I can, the heels Wendy put me in and the uncomfortable dress are my main concern right now. 

"Yes, Ms McMillan. Have a seat please" his voice is smooth and loud for someone as old as the games. "I understand you had a problem with our rule?" 

I bite my lip. "Well. I'm not so much into boys, I like them- but I like girls more: even if Achilles is like.. really kinda hot" 

"Let me tell you something about the past year, Ms McMillan. I understand your district had it rough with curfews and money shortages?" 

"Well, yes. You decided on these. Can I ask why? We didn't do anything" I lean forward. 

"The common people didn't. But your victor Kara Logan.. she behaved like an animal- slaughtered 14 gamemakers before she was caught" the president crosses his arms. 

I let out a small gasp. _why would she even do that?!_ "well" I begin. "We all consider her a traitor. You shouldn't have let out your anger on all of us!" 

The president isn't startled or suprised at my outbreak. "That's where you're wrong. Ms McMillan, the victors are the ambassadors of the district in the Capitol. Every thing in their behavior translates into their districts. Which is why you are here. I want you to promise me you'll do exactly as we instruct" 

I don't think twice. "Of course. Anything to please you and remove the punishments on Two" 

"That means you'll have to follow the rule" his eyes flicker. 

I bite the inside of my mouth. Okay; I can do that. 

"And you'll take on the job your fellow victors take as soon as your victory tour ends" 

"What job?" 

"Ask your mentors If you don't wanna get caught off guard. And remember: it's all for your district and for your loved ones. Am I clear?" 

I look away from his gaze. "Crystal. Sir" 

"Wonderful. You may go"

* * *

Wendy lets me wear a suit for my victory party: thank the 'makers. 

The black and white suit is laced with black shiny stones, I answer Yelene's light questions with ease. 

I try not to look, but when Bree fights Jesse on the cliff I know what is gonna happen but I can't look away.. I feel the bile rising again in my throat. The cameras cut immediately to me standing up and fighting Jesse. 

On camera, Jesse's fake shock is even more hard to notice. Hell, I almost believe him. 

A lot of Capitolites and victors stop to talk to me: Amethyst Wheeler, Finnick Odair. Yelene. In more detail. 

I can see Katniss Everdeen eyeing me from afar. I flash back to the night before the arena when I saw her in that revealing outfit and makeup. _is this a victors thing? -pray it won't be._

Is this the job the president told me about? I walk up to Katniss. Her sister is next to her like she always is. "Hey. Sorry about the Bree thing. I hope there's no hard feelings." 

"It's okay" Katniss shakes my hand, her face are a firm mask. Prim nods. "You seem okay enough." 

I turn to Katniss again. "That night before the arena.. you were out for somethimg, Is this the job the president told me about?" 

Prim and Katniss exchange a glance. "Yes" 

"What are you supposed to do then? Tell me. I don't wanna be clueless" 

Prim's face soften. "Why don't you ask Achilles? I know you two are supposed to spend the night together" she points me to Achilles, who is walking towards us. 

_Why are you avoiding my question?! Is it that bad? It can't be that bad. Maybe just partying with the fans..._

Achilles plants a kiss on my palm, like I've seen Capitolites do on TV for the important ladies. Before he takes my arm and leads me to the Two compound. 

As the elevator doors close behind us, Achilles buttons down his shirt. 

"I'm not into men that much. I only did it once with a guy and we both ended unsatisfied" 

"I'm sure I can be satisfying. It's my job after all" he's smirking. "What is this job anyway?" I take off the blazer and the pants carefuly. 

Achilles is suprised for a second. "Didn't you talk to your mentors?" "No, I didn't get to see them. I tried to ask Katniss Everdeen but she just directed me to you so please. Just spit it: what job I'm supposed to take on?" 

A sad smile formed on his face, he took my shirt off and lifted me on top of him- funny, I never once topped with Gwen. He opened the bra clips with ease and switched sides. His skin was cold on my bare chest (not for long, I guess). 

He covered our lower half with the blanket before taking off the final layer of cloth. 

"This" he whispered in my ear. "Sex with whoever wants our service" 

I roll over to lie on top. "You can't be serious" I stammer. He pushes me closer. I can feel the friction of us and I focus my gaze on his beautiful green eyes instead. "I am very serious. I suppose he told you what the cost is" 

_It's all for your district and your loved ones._ Roughly translates to: _Don't cross me or your district and the people you care about will suffer._

I let out a whimper. "How- how can you take this?" 

"I know how to fake it. Believe it or not- you're not my type either" he says quietly. 

He likes boys then. And the people don't even know. All these women I saw him "date" on TV.... 

"I- I don't know how to do that.. all these men would want-" 

"Don't worry. Women are natural in these stuff. Gemma Leon told me that. It's an old tradition that started when she won..pretty much" 

I didn't even realize we finished, but I feel the sweat dripping from me and everything hurts.. Achilles lays me gently to the side. "Hey. If you want, we can do it again and "practice" since neither of us likes the other sex" his voice is really gentle and sweet, I'm starting to see what Ina saw in him last year when we watched. 

"I'd like that. We can see eachother when we're both here to do our jobs" 

"It's monthly. You stay here for a week and get an envelope each night- the victors who do this call it "rounds" you can find me.. or Jeremy, I know he's from your district" 

I stare at the ceiling for a moment. "How many victors are doing this?" 

"Right now... you and me, Gigi, Jeremy, Amethyst Wheeler, Natalie Landon, Atalanta from my district, Bianca Dover from One, and Aidan, also from Four. I think that's it- Finnick used to do that for years, but ever since I came he's not on demand anymore" Achilles makes a face. 

"Katniss does it too" 

"Huh. So he did that to outliars too. Didn't think they were pretty enough.." 

"Well Katniss _is_ still kinda hot at like.. 35 or whatever" I laugh bitterly. 

"I wouldn't know" he laughs back.

* * *

I don't talk to Gigi or Jeremy in the train ride. I know somewhere on this train is Jesse's coffin. Every time I think about it, I remind myself that's what he wanted. That's whats important.

"Anya!" I hear a familiar scream as I step out. Ina is in the front row: clapping the hardest. I bend down to hug her as the crowds chant my name like they did back in the reaping.

_Makers, that seemed so long ago, but was maybe two weeks at best.._

My family waits for me at the victors village, apparently. Before I enter my house, I shake the hands of all the living victors, from Kassel the 28th victor to Enobaria and Claude. I don't look at the little gap between them that was supposed to be Kara. 

"Welcome" Enobaria smiles at me, the smile is quick enough for me to see her teeth. 

"Thank you. I look forward to be a part of the village" I hope I'm not sounding too awkward or something..

They all clap politely as I step inside to welcome my family. I wrap myself in her embrace. "We aren't supposed to live with you since you're 18. But we'll always come over. Okay?" Mom whispers. 

Dad and Alex are next. We eat next to the table as I tell them about the Capitol- the things I _can_ tell them. 

I watch the leave slowly. As they close the door behind them; I clunch the butter knife in my hand harder..

I will do what I can to protect them and to keep Two from falling apart again. 


End file.
